James Schramko Reveals Secrets to Making Profits Amid Delayed Payments and Managing a Growing Business

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What happens when a client pays late for a job? How do companies approach customers who demand more time than others? Can a startup cope with more clients than they can handle? James Schramko delivers simple yet powerful answers to these—and more—timely questions in a new SuperFastBusiness video.

James Schramko - Online Business Expert

When someone’s paying you in the future, the same amount that you could get today is not worth as much. So what you want to do is charge a premium for that customer.

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Get paid upfront. Get compensated for additional aggravation. Get a plan in place before a heavy volume of business overburdens staff and the system. James Schramko recently shared some of his tried-and-tested secrets to generating stable profits in the latest installment of his SuperFastBusiness videos. From bringing an end to delayed payments to emphasizing the need for a failsafe plan should business double, Schramko pulls no punches about what it takes to run a business that can survive an economic crisis and thrive in a competitive market.

To ensure payment for a job or a project, the SuperFastBusiness owner advises startups and struggling companies to implement the delayed payment method. Instead of sending an invoice after a project has been delivered, Schramko says that companies should consider waiting for the payment to come in and then buckling down to work on the project. Alternately, companies could place clients on a direct debit account wherein payments could automatically be transferred to the company. This essentially eliminates the need for a paper invoice to be sent. Should both methods seem improbable for the way a business is currently set-up, Schramko tells companies to factor in the time required in making a follow-up on payments. If this is the case, companies should know to charge more for clients who are notoriously late in making payments.

“If clients insist on paying late,” Schramko begins to say about how to handle customers that delay compensation, “be sure to charge more because cash now is worth more than cash in the future, and the reverse is true when it’s owed to you. When someone’s paying you in the future, the same amount that you could get today is not worth as much. So what you want to do is charge a premium for that customer.”

For companies faced with challenging customers that take up most of business days with meetings that seem to go on forever or phone calls and inquiries that command ninja-like attention, Schramko advises, “If they want to meet more frequently than required, you can signal that that’s different to what normally happens so they are a little bit of an exception — not the norm. Make sure you gently remind them that… you can actually suggest that they move to a different plan… You need to charge a premium for clients who are going to suck up more of your time and energy because there’s a value on your time and energy. Make sure you get compensated for all that extra hassle.”

In order to determine how to best handle customers, Schramko encourages companies to implement marketing segmentation. According to the SuperFastBusiness owner, customers should be grouped into: those who inquired but didn't buy, those who bought the products, and those who bought the premium products. Each one should be categorized so that companies can provide their staff with the proper training to deal with each specific customer.

The Australia-based businessman and known marketing authority also gave companies a rundown of several software and systems that could prove to be invaluable in training support staff. For making short videos, Schramko recommends Jing. For seamless laying out of images and copy to create a manual on procedures, he suggests using ScreenSteps from Blue Mango. For using a folder system, he encourages companies to rely on Dropbox. And when it comes to sharing standard operating procedures with team members, Schramko preaches the gospel of Google Docs.

And finally, Schramko asks companies, “What are you going to do when your business doubles? What’s going to blow up first? Will it be your support? Will it be your ability to deliver? Will it be that you need sales people? Will it be that you need accounting support? Whatever it is, think about it now. Once you think about that, and once you’ve solved that problem, then your business is ready to go to the next step.”

From effective ways to handle customers to developing a solid plan to conquer a heavy volume of business, Schramko’s newest business video update is a quick, painless, and smart guide to running a business.

To view the rest of James Schramko’s secrets to running a profitable company — despite the occasional difficult customer, go to SuperFastBusiness.com, or head on out to SilverCircle.com for more complex business matters.